Orbital taps ULA for rides to ISS

Well, I figured hitching a ride on a Falcon would be too bitter a pill to swallow for Orbital! But then its entirely possible that SpaceX could not meet a promised launch date considering they only made about half of their expected lanches this year.

Orbital will use the Atlas V to launch at least one Cygnus to the station in late 2015, with another mission possible, if needed, in 2016 while the company changes out the engines used in the first stage of its Antares rocket. Cygnus will be able to carry 35 percent more cargo during its missions on the Atlas V than it was able to with the first version of Antares, Orbital representatives said.

Guessing they would hitch a couple rides on the Atlas V instead -- it has a long-established track record of reliability at a time when Orbital needs exactly that, and it draws fewer direct comparisons between SpaceX and themselves.

The ULA boosters will probably come out of the stream of committed boosters for the air force so the they can oh we opened up two more launches for competition, so they can say we are not so bad after all!!!